The present disclosure relates to a display unit capable of performing two-dimensional display (planar display) and three-dimensional display (stereoscopic display).
Display units capable of performing three-dimensional display include display units in need of wearing special glasses for three-dimensional display and display units without need of the special glasses. In the latter display units, for example, a lenticular lens or a parallax barrier is used to allow a viewer to perceive a stereoscopic image with naked eyes. When image information is distributed into right and left eyes by the lenticular lens or the parallax barrier, the respective right and left eyes see different images, and as a result, three-dimensional display is achievable.
In the display units capable of performing three-dimensional display, as in the case of display units performing only two-dimensional display in related art, higher image quality and a reduction in thickness are desired. Therefore, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-142065 proposes a method of partially modulating light intensity of a backlight in an edge-light method.
The backlight described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-142065 includes a light guide plate, a light source disposed on a side surface of the light guide plate, a light modulation device adhered to the light guide plate, and a drive circuit driving the light modulation device. The light modulation device is configured of a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) and a pair of electrodes sandwiching the PDLC therebetween. The electrodes each are configured of a plurality of strip-like electrodes, and strip-like electrodes above the PDLC and strip-like electrodes below the PDLC are disposed to be orthogonal to each other. For example, the drive circuit drives each of strip-like electrodes by a simple-matrix driving method to switch a part of the PDLC into a scattering state or a transparent state, thereby allowing a scattering region of the PDLC to emit illumination light.